Coligny teen's mom wears EFF T-shirt as she receives house from ANC-led province

Published Mar 21, 2019

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Coligny - Drama unfolded at the handing over of a house to slain Coligny teenager Matlhomola Mosweu's family in Coligny, North West on Thursday.

The teen's mother Agnes Mosweu arrived at the event, organised by the African National Congress-ruled North West government, dressed in a signature Economic Freedom Fighters red T-shirt. Officials and ANC members wanted her to change her garb,  but she refused.

"They cannot dictate to me what to wear,"  she angrily said.

Mosweu's father, Sakkie Dingake, was seated at the back of the VIP tent erected for the handing over ceremony, far from family members who were seated at the front.

He said he was not invited to the event, adding that Agnes was not happy that her house was built at Gerdoren Park in Coligny and not at Scotland informal settlement where she lived.

Matlhomola Mosweu's father, Sakkie Dingake seated at the back of the tent refusing to join family members at the front. He stated that he was not informed or invited to the handing over of the house. Dingake and Mosweu do not live in the same home. Photo: Molaole Montsho

The house is isolated and was near the place where Matlhomola was killed.

North West premier Job Mokgoro was expected to hand over the house to the family later.

The house was pledged by the former Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Gift of the Givers in 2017, following the death of Mosweu who was accused of stealing sunflower seed heads at Rietvlei farm.

The family had been staying in a dilapidated shack at Scotland informal settlement.

Born Matlhomola Jonas Mosweu, 16, the teenager was killed by Pieter Doorewaard, 28, and Phillip Schutte, 35, on April 20, 2017.

The pair caught Matlhomola commonly known as Faki, with sunflower heads worth R80 at their employer's field.

They put him in the load bin of their van and drove off. Along the way Schutte pushed him out while the van was still in motion.

He sustained neck injuries and died on his way to hospital in Lichtenburg. His death set off mass violent protest in the sleepy maize producing town. 

Six houses and three trucks were torched, several shops looted and damaged and the town was shutdown for five days until the two handed themselves to the police.

Doorewaard and Schutte claimed he jumped out of the van in an attempt to flee but the North High Court had rejected their version and accepted the sole eyewitness Bonakele Pakisi testimony that Faki was pushed from the van.

Schutte was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for murder, three years for kidnapping, two years for intimidation, one year for theft and two years for pointing of a firearm.

The sentences for kidnapping, intimidation, theft and pointing of a firearm will run concurrently, meaning he would serve an effective 23 years in jail.

Doorewaard was sentenced to an effective 18 years for murder, kidnapping, intimidation, theft and two years for pointing of a firearm.

African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Chantall Presence

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